F-35 Lighting First Vertical Landing

Earlier this month, the greatly-hyped and highly anticipated F-35 Lighting stealth fighter made its first vertical landing. During tests at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, 2nd March, the F-35 successfully descended vertically from a 150 ft hover to touch down on the tarmac with exceptional aviation grace.

F-35 Lightning First Vertical Landing

With overrun costs and numerous setbacks slowing the development period to almost a decade, the recent tests are significant move forward for the stealth fighter set to replace the Harrier ‘Jump’ Jet.

The tests began with a short 93 mile per hour take off, the pilot then turned the plane, positioned it over the runway, and lowered it to the ground.

The test pilot, a former Royal Air Force aviator with experience in flying VSTOL planes, said he found landing the F-35 vertically far easier than landing older planes like the Harrier.

The Marine Corps hopes to start training its first round of F-35 pilots this fall, however with February’s announcement that the entire program has been delayed a year, and cost overruns threatening automatic program restructuring under the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment, it is inevitable that the US military’s plans for deployment are also delayed.